Telescoping Steering System With Mechanical Detent Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing telescoping steering systems for personal watercraft (PWC) are either complex and costly due to hydraulic components or difficult to adjust while operating, and lack locking mechanisms to secure handle bars at desired heights.
Innovation Solution
A telescoping steering system with a housing, case members, a column shaft, and a telescoping mechanism featuring detents and a locking pin, allowing for adjustable and lockable handle bar heights without the need for hydraulic components, enabling easy adjustment and secure positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a hydraulic cylinder is used for telescoping mechanism, then handle bar height adjustment is enabled, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the hydraulic cylinder from the telescoping mechanism and replaces it with a purely mechanical system consisting of a locking pin, detents, and lever. This removes the complex hydraulic components while retaining the height adjustment functionality through mechanical means.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses simple, inexpensive mechanical components (locking pin, detents, lever) instead of expensive hydraulic cylinders. These mechanical parts are simpler to manufacture and replace, reducing overall system cost and complexity while achieving the same functional outcome.
2Device complexity
If a threaded fastening member is used for telescoping mechanism, then structure is simplified, but adjustment difficulty increases while traveling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the locking mechanism dynamic by introducing a lever that can be easily actuated to move the locking pin between engaged and disengaged states. This allows quick adjustment during operation without requiring manual threading or complex manipulation, resolving the contradiction between structural simplicity and operational ease.
3Device complexity
If no locking devices are provided, then structure is simplified, but handle bar position stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the continuous movement range into discrete positioned stops using detents. The locking pin engages with these segmented detent positions to provide stable, locked handle bar heights at multiple predetermined levels, maintaining stability without requiring a complex continuous locking system.
Data Source
AI summary
A steering system for a water vehicle includes a housing having a substantially cylindrical member, at least one case member extending through the substantially cylindrical member, a column shaft extending through the pair of case members, including at least one elongated hole disposed on opposed side of the column shaft, and being arranged to move relative to the pair of case members and the housing in an axial direction of the column shaft, and a telescoping mechanism partially disposed in the column shaft. One of the pair of case members includes a plurality of detents provided on an inner surface thereof. The telescoping mechanism includes at least one elongated hole disposed at one end portion of the telescoping mechanism, a locking pin extending through the at least one elongated hole in the telescoping mechanism and the at least one elongated hole in the column shaft, and a lever disposed at an opposite end portion from the one end portion of the telescoping mechanism. The lever is movable to move the locking pin into and out of engagement with respective ones of the plurality of detents to enable the column shaft to be selectively moved relative to the pair of case members and the housing and fixed at a desired location relative to the pair of case members and the housing.